Elysium's Void

To'raht

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  Gender: Male
  
  Age: Appears to be 53 (actually is less than 3 years)
  
  Height: 178 cm (5' 10")
  
  Weight: 153 lbs
  
  Hair: Black
  
  Eyes: Grey
  
  Species: Material Phantom of a Ronay
  
  Personality:

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  Holds a rather grim countenance, he could be seen as the archetypal knight in sour armor if it weren't for the fact that he truly believed there was hope in even the darkest of situations. Rather cantankerous at times, though he does have a fatherly outlook on those he respects. He takes care of others whenever possible, but not to the degree of total naivety. Not beyond using questionable tactics in either a negotiation or a fight, his only creed is pragmatism. Investigative and always vigilant, he may sometimes be considered a detective. Prefers to nod silently when showing his acquiescence. Often prefers discussing business over personal affairs, but is always willing to listen when others speak.

  
  Abilities: Always carries an ancient tome with him. If touched by another, its pages are blank. However, To'raht can use it as a linking book to return to his own 'world'.
  
  Background:

  Pre-ascension

  To'raht was born in the Age of Garternay, 137 years before the evacuation to Terahnee. He grew up with his mother, a priestess in the city-state of Klermac. When he was five, his mother disappeared, and he was taken in by an aging prophet named Tegren. On his twenty-third birthday, he saw the town destroyed by an earthquake and was forced to flee with Tegren to Gahropat, which used to be the center of a great empire. After settling down, he met a Writer named Armus, who met with Tegren over a matter of "grave importance". Shortly after, Tegren took To'raht to the noble Kli'net, who sponsored To'raht for the city's Guild of Writers. As a result, To'raht moved to the guild's headquarters in the coastal district and studied under the apprenticeship of O'pai and Janus, both Writers who were known to have written several Ages used for religious rituals.
  
  Becoming a great Writer in his own right, To'raht's first Age was a garden world called Laia, named so after a girl that had caught his attention. Their first date took them to that world, against the warnings of the Guild. When they tried again a month later, they were stopped by the Guild commissioner, Fo'rah. After receiving a severe reprimand, To'raht was sent away to serve as an apprentice to Indrais in the newly-built city of Nemaht. While there, he buried himself in his work and refused to leave the temple for many weeks. Finally, when he heard of the arrival of Tegren in the city, he emerged but found himself distrusted by the rest of the community. In an incident where several citizens assaulted him, breaking one of his arms in the process, To'raht left the city and wandered into the mountains, where he hoped to become a hermit and live alone the rest of his days.
  
  Instead, he met Ja'gon, a fledgling young man from a tribe among the People of the Rock. Together, they traveled north into the forests of Mi'ritrai and found Armus, who lived in a sanctuary called Agog. Armus' attempt to return To'raht to Gahropat included a reason To'raht couldn't accept. Disgusted by what he thought was "pure heresy", To'raht left Ja'gon behind to continue searching for a place to call his own. Instead, his journeys brought him to the door of O'lia D'ama, the Sibyl of the Shrine at Yir'va, a sanctuary located at the foot of a mountain some distance northwest of Agog. For the next fifty years, he served at the Shrine, even after O'lia left to help Ri'neref finish the Age of D'ni. During that time, he stayed in contact with Ja'gon and met his old friend many times in the village of Pa'mos, on the periphery of Lake Ilko.
  
  Forty years into his service, To'raht learned of Laia's death after a plague had struck Gahropat and several other cities. He mourned for several years, but eventually had to move on when O'lia asked him to be her voice to the priests of the Sanctuary on Jel'ga Mountain. While there, he gained a new appreciation for the religious beliefs of his people, and when he returned, he held on to the belief that Laia was still alive in the Perfect Age, and they would meet again after death. Ten years following O'lia's departure, news reached To'raht of a miracle worker in Gahropat who cured many of the plague. Wishing to see for himself, he made the journey back to his ancestral home and found that the miracles were carried out by an otherworldly priest calling himself a Prior, who preached that the miracle was due to some gods called "the Ori".
  
  Curious, but also skeptical, To'raht followed the crowd when they gathered at the foot of Mount Devokanth ("The Place of One Hope") and watched as the Prior debated with the High Priestess O'okta. Finally, when it appeared that the King wouldn't support any further proselytizing from the Prior, the mysterious benefactor raised his staff and apparently caused the sun to turn red. Most people didn't realize it at first, but as the plague began to ravage the city once more, astronomers confirmed their worst fears: the sun was now dying, and soon the world of Garternay would be no more. When the city erupted into chaos, To'raht was already back at Yir'va attempting to write an Age he could escape to. Instead, as the world was torn between supporters of the Ori and those still loyal to Yahvo (god of the ronay), Ja'gon traveled to Yir'va and revealed that Armus' work was at a crucial stage - all they needed was someone to protect it from the Ori's followers. Initially unconvinced of its importance, To'raht only accepted after visiting a world that had almost fallen to several chaotic 'deities': the Age of Hyrule.
  
  To'raht took up the task Ja'gon handed him and first traveled to D'ni with the rest of Rineref's supporters in Gahropat. This was at the time the first Ori made themselves known, assaulting the city of Gahropat alongside their supporters. Once safely in D'ni, he rejoined the Guild of Writers with Rineref's support. O'lia eventually disappeared, leaving behind her youngest daughter, Tereh'sa, whom To'raht eventually adopted and treated as his own child. He also became the mentor and teacher of Ja'gon's grandson, R'ive, who joined the Guild the day he was old enough. During this time, To'raht visited the Age of Hyrule several times since Ja'gon fled there prior to the fall of the city. He monitored the development of Ja'gon's half-Hylian son, a boy named Selar, in the hopes he would be one of his successors in the project Ja'gon left him.
  
  On the day that he sent Tereh'sa to join several other priestesses in an early colonization effort to the Age of Al'yon, To'raht also reluctantly dismissed R'ive from the Guild of Writers and sent him to live with his aunt O'kalah. Afterward, when the only link to Al'yon was lost, he involved himself in a conspiracy with D'ama's other disciples in an effort to restore Al'yon's linking book. Little did he realize, their leader, Da'rea, was being controlled by a parasite known as a Goa'uld. Angry with the Guild of Writers, D'ama's disciples began a revolt against Rineref, which caused the deaths of many Writers, including O'kalah, during their efforts to find and collect numerous Ages considered 'heretical' by the Guild of Maintainers. He only saved R'ive's life by revealing the existence of the "One Mandate" (the project he left in part to R'ive) to Da'rea. Whilst R'ive and Da'rea fled to the surface alongside several conspirators, To'raht was one of those captured but later escaped to the distant Age of Aurbis.

  
  

  Post-ascension

  4047 BCE - R'ive's atma verial, now in the form of a Daedra after a visit to Aurbis, visits Albion in search of To'raht. By this time, R'ive had successfully created a hub 'world' in the Age of Aevra, wherein immortality and indestructibility existed everywhere. This was meant to be the first phase of what R'ive claimed would be a new take on the Perfect Age. After showing To'raht his work so far, he told To'raht that he needed help making a change from the inside of the Age. However, neither of them had experience in any sort of 'empty' chaotic space (that which exists beyond the impermanent boundaries of a universe). Thus they turn to William Black, who spent enough time in the Void that he could exist in such a place again. Knowing that the Void had infected his body and mind, William cast out most of the illness, which became the Corruption and the Corruptor. Then he wrapped his body in golden mail and royal blue cloak designed by To'raht to help him withstand the theoretical effects being outside a tangible universe might cause and left with R'ive to enter the Age of Aevra.
  
  4047 BCE - When the Archon vanished, Albion descended into chaos. Three quarters of the population were either slain in the wars or died of disease and/or starvation. Meanwhile, the Archon's many descendants would vie for power. These new rulers were not as kind or wise as the first. Each new Archon, fearful of a coup, brought fresh tyranny to Albion. A massive wall was constructed around the city, to keep citizens in and beasts, as well as undesirables, out. The Archon's personal guard, who were encased in armour from birth, enforced their harsh decrees: no citizens were allowed out after nightfall, every citizen must appear when an alarm bell sounded, and any who opposed the Archon's rule were killed along with their families. The people witnessed these cruelties from behind masks that signalled their status while concealing their fear.
  
  4046 BCE - With the Sword of Aeons cleansed of Manea's presence, William enters the space outside the known universe in the Age of Aevra. He uses his own Will to bring order to the chaos, further creating stable slipstream corridors with the Sword of Aeons as a means of holding it all together. His use of the sword, however, causes it to become severely damaged and nearly break. When he was done, his strength faded and he could only create one last thing. He chose to forge a copy of the Sword (tainted still by his own corruption) and send it back to Aevra's hub world, while the original shattered into a multitude of unique shards. R'ive would later return the Sword of Aeons to Albion, then gather the shards that were created. William's body itself disintegrated into a mass of omega particles, which found their way into the atma verials of each world and their first inhabitants (who later become known as the Ancestors of the future Princesses of Heart). Most notably, William's actions led to the intentional creation of a separate dimension known later as the Realm of Sleep. R'ive and William designed their plans for the new Age to include it as a means of circumventing death by allowing the deceased and their worlds to reappear there in a form familiar to those who had 'died'.
  
  4045 BCE - While exploring the newborn universe of Aevra, R'ive encounters a shadow rapidly growing out of the center. As he analyzed the darkness more closely, he discovered not only that it had originated from the bit of William Black which had been corrupted by the Void, but also that two parts of it had taken on R'ive's and William's forms. These creatures didn't appear to control the shadow (hereby known as the Realm of Darkness), but they turned out to be just as capable as R'ive and William in working together to create new entities out of ethereal components. These mirror forms created the first of a species known as the Heartless and proceeded to use them as a means of indirectly controlling the Realm of Darkness, which would envelop any world whose 'heart' (atma verial) was infected. Realizing the threat they'd bring, R'ive manipulated the omegas to form 'shields' around each world which couldn't be unlocked without a unique key - or after a long period of time in which the darkness could weaken and, eventually, destroy them. The origin of the keyblades would come in the form of the shards, which R'ive & To'raht would begin distributing one at a time - partly as a measure of locking away the Realm of Darkness into a dimension called 'Kingdom Hearts', and partly as a means of reconnecting the worlds once the danger had passed.